NIU New Music Festival 2026 Concert 1
October 26 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
The NIU New Music Festival celebrates its fourteenth edition with two evenings of music October 26-27, 2026. This year’s festival will feature three special guests: Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Melinda Wagner (The Juilliard School), flutist Emma Hospelhorn (Ensemble Dal Niente), and composer David Clay Mettens (University of South Carolina).
The festival boasts two notable world premieres:
Gregory Beyer performing Melinda Wagner’s “The Witness Tree” for solo marimba,
Gregory Beyer and Emma Hospelhorn performing a new work by Clay Mettens.
The program will also occasion six more premieres by NIU student composers, performed by the NIU New Music Ensemble.